Politics Of Health Group

This collection includes material which has not yet been catalogued. Additions to an archive are referred to as 'accruals'. A summary of the uncatalogued materials in this collection is provided under 'Accruals'.

The catalogued collection comprises administrative papers, newsletters and publications, plus notes of conversations with J. Mitchell, member of POHG, and other related papers concerning the activities of PoHG. Material is held in paper-based and digital format.

1978-2022

3 boxes, 209 digital files

The material has been arranged into two sections to reflect the two different periods of activity. Much of the material has been gathered together by the group's members as part of a specific call to transfer material to the archive and therefore groupings do not necessarily represent original arrangement.

Donated to Wellcome Collection in November 1986 and January 1987 (Acc No. 248). Further accrual donated in June 2023 (Acc No. 2728).

The POHG (Politics of Health Group) has gone through two different periods of activity: 1977-1986 and 2002-present day.

The first incarnation formed in 1977, comprising an informal group of socialists and feminists who were working in the health service or researching and writing on health issues, as well as activists, community workers and others interested in the politics of health. They were concerned "with examining how the causes of health and ill health are embedded in the unequal distribution of resources and power in our society, and with considering the strengths and weaknesses of the NHS and the ways in which it needs to be not only defended but improved." Various topics were discussed at evening and weekend meetings and a small number of publications were produced (not all of which are represented amongst the papers here). The group gave rise to a number of new independent organisations, including the Women's Health Information Centre and Radical Nurses, and helped to initiate the London Food Commission. As members became more involved in these organisations, the POHG group decided to wind up its own activities and announced this in the February 1986 newsletter.

In 2002, the group was revived in order to once again provide a forum for discussion about public policy relating to health. Operating as an email network with a steering group, the new POHG campaigns on issues such as inequalities in health, social justice, and environmental sustainability. Their activities include letter writing, meetings, conferences, and the publication of policy papers, discussion papers, guides to good practice and articles online. Major outputs include the UK Health Watch report in 2005 and the UK Health Charter in 2016, which was a result of their national NP4H (New Politics for Health) event held at Birmingham City University.

There were several books and many articles published by members of the group, influenced more or less directly by the group. The following list is confined to those that were very directly influenced by POHG:-

Lesley Doyal with Imogen Pennell, The Political Economy of Health, Pluto (1979). Jeannette Mitchell, What Is To Be Done About Illness and Health?, Penguin (1984). Jane Salvage, The Politics of Nursing, Heinemann Nursing (1985). Anne Karpf, Doctoring the Box: Health, Medicine and the Media, Routledge, Kegan, Paul (1987). Wendy Farrant and Jill Russell, The Politics of Health Information: 'Beating Heart Disease' as a case study of HEC publications, Institute of Education Bedford Way paper (1987).

At Wellcome Collection:

The Group were a major influence on the setting up of the London Food Commission, whose papers are held within Tim Lang's archive (PP/TLA) and Tim Lobstein's archive (PP/TLO).

The Group were also closely associated with the British Society for Social Responsibility in Science (SA/BSR).

More information on socialist perspectives on medicine, from a slightly earlier period, can be found in the papers of the Sigerist Society (SA/SIG).

This collection has been partially catalogued and the catalogued part is available to library members. Some items have access restrictions which are explained in the item-level catalogue records. Requests to view uncatalogued material are considered on a case by case basis. Please contact collections@wellcomecollection.org for more details..

Acc 2728, donated June 2023: "Old POHG papers, 1970s-1980s"; "Printed and Published material, 70s-80s, non-PoHG"; "Revived POHG - 2002 on papers not available digitally"; "West of Scotland PoHG"; digital records from 2002 onwards including meeting minutes and general PoHG activities.

Acc 2753, donated Jan 2024: 3 box files: "Business group, administration, planning and information about POHG, misc personal notes" "PoHG subgroups"; "Food and Profit pamphlet background papers".

Material previously held by POHG.